Disclosure: I own nothing of this sadly. The ideas all belong to those who created the original series. All that belong to me are my OC and the slight changes I may make here and there to the story. I do not plan on posting everything I have just yet because I want to see how people will respond to what I've written. This is a test chapter. Please let me know what you think.

I was ten when Gen-Sys claimed to have a cure for Alzheimers Disease. For many months they cured people, but eventually they began to get sick again because the cure was no longer working. The body began to attack the good cells hence bringing the Alzheimer's back. The Simian Flu came into existence when the apes at the facility broke out and ran to the Muir woods across the bridge. The news said to keep away from infected people because what they had was contagious and could kill us too. The drug had been tested on apes in the early stages so it was dubbed the Simian Flu.

That flu was the first time I saw someone die.

My neighbor had gotten the treatment and it had improved her vocabulary. The only reason she was able to get the treatment was because I was friends with the creator of the treatment. She'd been able to speak with me for some time before she began to forget words. It started out slow but eventually she couldn't speak with me at all. She became frail and tiny after the decline of the Alzheimer's treatment which left her vulnerable to catch the simian flu. Eventually, she died.

Shortly after she died, my mother got sick with the flu.

Father took us both to the CDC. His old girlfriend Ellie Cates said she'd always wanted to help keep people safe and she had set her mind on getting a job at the CDC. Dad had seen her in the news so he knew she worked there.

By some miracle, she was still alive and working to cure people as quickly as possible. Her determination to cure this wildly spreading flu came from her daughter falling ill. Her daughter Sarah was one of my best friends. I liked her because she wasn't afraid of me like most people.

Ellie took care of my mother and her daughter as much as she could but she was unable to cure her leaving the disease to take my mother from me.

I thought I would die that day.

Against my wishes, my father fell ill after my mother died. He and Sarah shared the same room.

I was eleven when my father and best friend died.

I was amazed I was still alive.

"Why my family?" I asked Ellie as I cried.

"Why my daughter?" she asked me as she cried.

For days we grieved the deaths of family before moving Ellie's things from CDC and going to her house. At her house she was running tests with some vials of blood she had with her. It didn't take too long to find out that the blood belonged to my parents. By mixing their blood together, she was able to make a mixture that was very similar to my own. She found out that by mixing the blood together, she was able to create a temporary cure. That explained why I was not catching the flu. She tested her own blood and found that she was somewhat immune but by adding my blood or the blood mixture to her own, she was able to increase the already existent antibodies.

The next day, she brought me to work with the blood mixture and gave everyone who was sick a dose of the mixture or my blood in the hopes that it would increase their immune systems. In the few days that followed, the people who received the blood began to show signs of improvement. Their fever went away and they were able to regain lost weight.

She brought me to work the day day and we found everyone dead. The CDC had caught on fire. Everyone burned inside. I was told the place burned because the doctors could not save the people inside and to prevent the disease from spreading, they destroyed everything.

.. .. ..

I was twelve when a doctor and his son found Ellie and me hiding out in an abandoned grocery store. They were looking for food like we had been, but we just camped close by so food would never be too far away.

They invited us to come stay with them in a compound they had created for themselves and the few living survivors they could find.

"I'm Malcolm," the doctor introduced himself. "And this is my son, Alexander."

"I'm Ellie and this is Lily."

"You two family?"

"No, we lost ours and bonded together," Ellie said wrapping an arm around me.

"Come stay with us. We have a colony in the making-"

"Ok. We'll come," she responded a little too eagerly. I think she was just happy to not be alone anymore.

Alexander looked at me from behind his father as I looked at him from behind Ellie. He waved at me, so I waved back. His hair was brown and short hidden under his hooded jacket, but his face was sweet.

.. .. ..

At the colony Malcolm had spoken about, were no less than fifty people like Ellie and me who had been hiding and trying to stay alive after the simian flu killed almost everybody. Despite the name I never blamed the apes for what had happened. It was unfair to them because humans had created the virus and given it to the apes.

That night Ellie and Malcolm were checking those who had been hurt and were tending to the injuries they had sustained.

I sat by myself in a doorway looking out over all the people who were still alive and was just happy to see that Ellie and I were not the only people still alive in San Francisco.

I didn't see Alexander walk over so his presence made me jump.

"Hi," he said shyly.

"Hi," I signed to him which caught him off guard. All we'd done was wave at each other so he didn't know I was deaf and Ellie hadn't mentioned anything. He didn't know what to say so I pulled the notepad and pen that Ellie had given me from my back pocket and scribbled something quickly.

Please, don't be scared. I just can't hear what you have to say. I'm deaf.

His mouth formed into a distinct 'O' shape as he handed the notebook back. On second thought, he held out his hand and asked for the pen. Then he scribbled something.

I don't know sign.

It's ok. I can teach you. Just because I can't hear you doesn't mean I don't know what you're saying. Over the years, if I spend a long amount of time with a person I can read their lips and don't need sign as much.

He gave me a look that said prove it. So I pointed over to his father and Ellie and watched Ellie speak about one of her patients legs.

"It's not broken but it is sprained…"

It's not broken but it's sprained… I scribbled down quickly.

"Show off," Alex teased her shyly. He scribbled another note. How long have you been deaf? Was it an accident?

No. I've been deaf since birth.

He nodded his head in understanding.

I should warn you. Sign is not continuous like speech. When I speak, it is patchy. For example, you would say 'you and I will go to the store.' I would say 'you, me, store.' Make sense?

He nodded.

Here's the alphabet.

The next seven years were spent teaching Alex sign language.

Please let me know what you think and if I should post more or not? Thank you for reading.